New Jersey Devils winger Ilya Kovalchuk's original contract in 2010 led to a major penalty by the league. / Jerry Lai, USA TODAY Sports

by Mike Brehm, USA TODAY Sports

by Mike Brehm, USA TODAY Sports

The New Jersey Devils will keep their first-round pick in June's draft after all, but they still will pay a price of sorts for their cap-circumventing contract to Ilya Kovalchuk.

The NHL said on Thursday that it was altering its punishment over that 2010 contract and said New Jersey would get the 30th overall pick, the last pick of the first round, usually reserved for Stanley Cup champions.

Based on their current standings, the Devils would be eligible to pick 11th. They are not allowed to trade the 30th pick, the league said. The lower pick will make a difference in a draft that is considered weak.

The league had penalized the Devils over their original 17-year, $102 million contract to Kovalchuk. Other teams had been attaching lower salaries in the final years of a contract to reduce the overall cap hit, but the Devils took that practice to the extreme.

Kovalchuk would have been paid $98.5 million over the first 11 years. But the addition of five years of $550,000 at the end lowered the cap hit to $6 million. After the league rejected the contract, he signed a 15-year, $100 million contract. The current collective-bargaining agreement outlaws such back-diving contracts.

The league had penalized the Devils $3 million and said they had to forfeit their 2011 third-round pick plus a first-rounder at some point up until 2014. That was the pick that was returned to them on Thursday.

The NHL said it reconsidered the penalty after the Devils argued that circumstances had changed. Kovalchuk chose to return to Russia last summer to play in the Kontinental Hockey League.

The Devils also have been hit with a recapture penalty of $250,000 a year that will count against their cap number.

The league said it also has reduced the $3 million fine by an undisclosed amount.